Sunday, February 21, 2010

An Interview with Janet Mullany

by Christie KelleyI have to start by saying I've known Janet for about 8 years now. She is one of my critique partners and one of my favorite authors. Because of deadlines, I didn't have the chance to read her February release, IMPROPER RELATIONS, until a week ago. But once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading it in one day. That pretty much never happens for me any more.

Please welcome Janet to the lair!

What can you tell us about your latest book, Improper Relations?

It’s my latest Regency chicklit, the subgenre I may or may not have invented (I think to truly be a subgenre there has to be more than one of us writing it!). I started off with the title and the first line, My story begins with a wedding because I thought that was such a great opening, and I knew I wanted to write about women’s relationships and family ties. It’s not nearly as dreary or as lit-fic-y as it sounds. There are many inappropriate jokes.

I would consider Improper Relations a bunch of misunderstandings but it truly works in this book. Did you set out to write the misunderstanding, or did it just happen?

Absolutely I meant to, because the misunderstandings result from deep within the characters and create the conflict in the book. Charlotte, the heroine, has tremendous loyalty to her best friend Ann, even when Ann behaves badly; and Shad, the hero, is ruled by duty to his family and honor (he’s a retired naval officer). They’re both shaken by falling in love despite themselves, and unexpectedly great sex—not what your typical Georgian expected to find in a marriage, particularly a marriage of convenience. Yes, there’s sex in this one, sort of. I’ve always thought it funny that people regard my Regency chicklits as being squeaky clean. They have a very strong sexual subtext.

Will be seeing any more of these characters in other books?

I like the idea of visiting couples after the happily ever after, so yes, and I’m playing around with some ideas.

We love call stories in the lair, so could you tell us yours?

My significant writerly phone calls always seem to involve disasters like low batteries, broken phones, and other mishaps. When my agent called me to tell me that Little Black Dress had made me a three-book offer (a call but not The call which happened in 2003) I was at home with a really horrible sinus infection that made me talk like a baritone and my nose looked like a banana (swollen, not yellow), and it was my birthday. The phone was turned off. On my next birthday I was mugged on the way home and got a horrendous black eye (nothing was stolen because I screamed obscenities so loudly they ran away). It keeps things in perspective.

You have written in both 1st person and 3rd person, which do you prefer? And why?

It depends upon what I’m writing. First person works really well with the funny stuff, I find, because there’s an enormous amount of author dabbling going on behind the scenes and that works well when a certain amount of choreography is required. It’s much easier to orchestrate a half dozen people behaving badly in first person. With third person I tend to be a bit more serious, although I’ve never really that books have to be either funny or serious, and the ones I enjoy usually have both elements.

Do you find writing comedy difficult?

Not at all. I know I should suffer massive amounts of angst and sweat blood and all the rest of it but I don’t. And I can’t tell you how it happens because I really don’t know, although certainly elements of surprise, subversion, and timing are important. I think either you have a facility for comedy or you don’t, and I don’t know whether it can be learned. There is a certain amount of seriousness behind Improper Relations but it would be incredibly pretentious of me to claim it’s anything other than entertainment. There is one scene that made me cry when I wrote it, and I love to balance that turn from comedy to tragedy and back in only a few words; that, for me, is the hard, crafty part of it. Love is a serious business. It deserves the strategically-placed banana peel or whoopee cushion.

What’s next for Janet Mullany?

This year is a huge writing/publishing year for me. I have an e-novella coming out next month from Loose-Id, Reader, I Married Him, which is a dirty riff on Jane Eyre. In October, I have Jane & the Damned, a sort of speculative historical paranormal about Austen, vampires, and a French invasion (HarperCollins) and a novella in an anthology called Bespelling Jane, headlined by Mary Balogh (Harlequin). Mine, Little To Hex Her, is a contemporary based on Emma, about a dating agency for the paranormal population of Washington, DC. So essentially I’ll piss off all the Jane Eyre and Austen fangirls.

Here is the backcover blurb to get you all excited about the book!

Must a lady always put her husband first?

After losing best friend and cousin Ann Welling in marriage to the Earl of Beresford, sharp-witted Charlotte Hayden is even ruder than usual to potential suitors. Introduced to Beresford’s wayward cousin, Shad, Charlotte may have met her match in witty repartee–but he’s hardly husband material. Caught in a compromising situation, Charlotte and Shad are forced to wed, resigning themselves to a marriage of convenience. And they aren’t the only ones with marital problems… Have both Ann and Charlotte married in haste to repent at leisure? And where do their loyalties really lie? With their husbands, with each other, or somewhere else entirely?

IMPROPER RELATIONS is published by Little Black Dress but is available through The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/browse/book/isbn/9780755347803/ref/janetmullany.aff

More fun things can be found at Janet's website (there’s a contest and soundbites of Janet reading bits of the books): http://www.janetmullany.com

Janet's question for the Bandits: What do you find funny? Tell us a joke or share something, a book or experience, that has made you laugh out loud.

Congratulations on the new book Janet! I have a strange sense of humor and very odd things make me laugh. On Christmas Eve our son, who's a senior in high school, came to church with us and actually got all dressed up. We sit down and when I look down I see that he actually had on two different black shoes. I whisper this information to him but then I start laughing until tears are rolling down my face which he did not appreciate at all.

On Valentine my sister and I watched her favorite movie Made Of Honor. (Did you see that film?) I had seen it once before but still had to LOL when Patrick Dempsey came out to participate in the highland games. Wearing a short kilt, it's SO funny.

Janet, I've heard nothing but praise for your work, and can't wait to read Improper Relations. I really enjoyed your workshop on servants in the Regency period a few years ago. I love your sense of humor!

Janet Evanovich makes me laugh til I cry. I must look like a maniac, listening to her audio books (I highly recommend Motor Mouth) while I drive.

And I just finished Soulless by Gail Carriger. Here's a few lines from the first scene:

"She whacked the vampire right on top of the head with it as he tried to extract himself from his newly intimate relations with the tea trolley. The buckshot gave the brass parasol just enough heft to make a deliciously satisfying thunk.'Manners!' instructed Miss Tarabotti.The vampire howled in pain and sat back down on the treacle tart.Alexia followed up her advantage with a vicious prod between the vampire's legs. His howl went quite higher in pitch, and he crumpled into a fetal position. While Miss Tarabotti was a proper English young lady, aside from not having a soul and being half Italian, she did spend quite a bit more time than most other young ladies riding and walking and was therefore unexpectedly strong."

The more I read about this book, the more I want to read it! I love books that deal with misunderstandings - as long as they're handled well and I have a feeling Janet handles them well, if her previous books are any indication! As for what I find funny, I find a lot of things to be humorous, but one thing that is sure to make me laugh out loud is LOL cats. I love them!Margay

Anyone who hasn't read Janet's books is in for a real treat! They alternate between witty, snarky and laugh out loud funny! I would love to see them on film. The Rules of Gentility and A Most Lamentable Comedy are two books that I read when I am having a bad day.

I find the concept of Improper Relations intriguing and I know it will be fun.

My dogs provide a lot of entertainment for me. Especially my two Golden Retriever mix rescued dogs - Clyde and Zorro - The Idiot Brothers. They are the sweetest dogs in the world, but definitely NOT the sharpest tools in the shed. I heard horrendous barking and howling outside one afternoon. I walk out to find Zorro running around his dog run with his feed bucket (did I say these are also rather LARGE dogs?)caught completely over his head. Clyde, ever the good brother, alternates between running around with Zorro barking and then sitting down in the middle of the run and howling with distress. Needless to say I was laughing so hard it took me a few moments to catch Zorro and remove that dastardly bucket. Dogs, however, do not hold a grudge and I receive copious doggie kisses from both brothers for rescuing Zorro from the assault bucket.

Not to leave Clyde out (short for Clydesdale) he loves to lie on top of his igloo doghouse and eventually he falls asleep there. The problem is that the igloo roof is rounded. Once he falls asleep he falls off, jumps up and barks at the doghouse as if it pushed him.

Never a dull moment at my house.

And goodness, Janet, you are going to be on the shelves EVERYWHERE this year !!

Hi, Janet, I think you did invent the Regency chicklit subgenre! I never heard of it until I read your books. I admire the fact that you can write humor and do it so well. There aren't alot of writers who can do that. Congratulations on the upcoming releases!

Fun blog. Great way to elicit a bunch of funny stories. I like to laugh at movies and books (Janets -Mullany and Evanovich :D ), but even more at things that happen around me. Unfortunately, that usually means I'm laughing at myself. So, I guess bumbling makes me laugh.

I did the two shoes-different colors bit. And realized it as I LEFT the courtroom! With luck, the judge didn't notice, since I stayed behind the table all morning. But, I'm seldom that lucky. (Ya, I'm a lawyer. Way to impress the judge!)

Janet, somehow I missed the fact that your book is out already! I'm going to go find it. Your last book had me howling! So if there's a giveaway, opt me out. I'll already have it :D

Janet, welcome back to the Banditas. Lovely to see you here and the new books sounds fabulous. As you know, I love your other books, starting with THE RULES OF GENTILITY which had me snorting with laughter in a completely disgusting way on a train trip.

What a great interview Ladies one of the funniest books I have ever read happens to be one of yours Janet Rules of Gentility I remember when I was reading it my hubby kept looking at me with this weird look I don't normally laugh that much when reading a book. I look forward to your new one I will order it with my next order.

As for jokes I have a really bad short term memory and I often forget them even though they make me laugh LOL

Janet, I am not cyber stalking you, but you keep popping up on everyone's blog! Then again, I could read/listen to you for hours!

I agree with the Pissenlit (the first reply) that Lynsay Sand's SWV is funny. It includes a scene where the hero/vampire/accidental romance author is attending the Romantic Times National Convention with the heroine/his editor. Generally he relies on bags of blood from his family's own blood bank but the shipment was delayed. He's getting hungry. So he eyes the veins on Kathryn Falk, founder of Romantic Times, as she makes her rounds at one of the parties. Rest assured, he doesn't bite. The book has other funny scenes that pay homage to the fun chaos that can occur when hundreds of romance fans converge in one hotel with too few elevators.

I asked Kathryn for her reaction to the book. She replied, "I loved it!” Perhaps that’s why I enjoy reading romance – we can have fun in life! And Janet Mullany is fun!

Hey everyone, I'm back. Sorry about the gap. I was participating in my only non-writing related activity, being a docent at Riversdale House Museum, MD--terrific place. Then went to the grocery store and bought obscene amount of groceries. My thanks to Christie for keeping the conversation going, the teacups filled, and the footmen occupied.

From the top--Margay, I love LOL cats too.

Louisa, hi again! Your dogs sound like real clowns.

MsHellion, another repeat offender, good to see you again. I don't think this particular book has any fart jokes but Rules did, so you and Jo (hi) are safe. My daughter, btw, thinks I have the humor level of a 12 year old boy and I think she may be right. When I'm not being witty and sophisticated and so on...

Hi GG and Virginia. I'm with Chris--I think I'll have to check out Lyndsay Sands too.

Hi Diane--thanks!

Laura, my variant on the mismatched shoes is wearing something wrong side out. It comes from dressing for work in the dark.

Minna, thanks for the links. I'll check them out.

Hi Anna, I love that story about you on the train (and I know of at least two other people who had embarrassing moments on public transport with the book).

Helen, thanks so much and I'm glad you liked Rules.

Ooh, Kim in Hawaii, hi again. And yes, I'm all over the blogosphere like a cheap suit. I think I'm cyberstalking myself. More next week (see my website) and then I'll have run out of things to say.

I like Jill Shalvis's books and her blog. Hilarious. She makes everyday life a joy. She has run ins with bears, spiders, GS cookies, wears bunny slippers. One of her books "Messing With Max" had a scene on a front lawn with the heroine and hero fighting a hose which leads to instant awareness and a kiss. So funny and romantic!

I also dislike the body parts and sounds jokes. Too juvenile! Poor Taste!

Forward Page

September Releases

Still Available

Headlines

Donna MacMeans, Trish Milburn, and Nancy Northcott will all be in Atlanta for the Moonlight and Magnolias conference in Decatur, Georgia September 30 through October 2nd. If you're in the area, stop by for the booksigning. We'd love to see you.

Redeeming the Rogue by Donna MacMeans received a 4.5 star TOP PICK! review from Romantic Times Magazine.

Living in Color by Trish Milburn is now available on Kindle, Smashwords and at barnesandnoble.com for the Nook.